Dance Education

This article reports the findings of a study exploring the effects of using videoconferencing (VC) to deliver dance instruction to rural communities. The context of the study is a university community partnership run through blended live and VC instruction with elementary and middle school students in Eloy, Arizona. This research is part of a larger, ongoing study of iDance, aimed at defining instructional methods and creating dance curriculum to meet the needs of students in rural communities. VC presents unique opportunities for teaching students in rural settings. Considering the relative accessibility of VC centers makes it possible to educate rural students in a broad spectrum of dance contexts: composition, performance, technique, and analysis. Regardless of geographical limitations, community partnerships can flourish through VC technology. Addressing the literature on the use of VC in other disciplines, methods of data collection include interviews, short answer questionnair...

This article explores body, power and pedagogical issues related to a study in dance education. The study investigated the body perceptions of participant student teachers in a somatics and creativity project within a university level instructional setting. During this project somatic (body-mind) practices were used to explore body perceptions and image. The students then created what they called an 'interactive movement performance', which explored the issues raised in class. It explored how these body perceptions are influenced by society and the dance world. During the project the participants were asked questions about previous experiences in dance education, and how they have learned to perceive their bodies in reference to a model weight and body ideal. The initial qualitative/postpositivist analysis, from class discussion, interviews, observation and document analysis, indicated that the participants' previous experiences in dance did reflect an emphasis on 'ideal body' myths in the dance world. Students also expressed the value of somatic practice as a tool for body awareness and consciousness of these socio-political issues in traditional dance education. The students tended to tie somatics to an inner authority that resists technologies of normalisation and dominant meaning systems in dance and society. Somatic practice facilitated a dialogue through which they realised and expressed the pressures to meet an imposed bodily standard. Further, it allowed them the space to explore a connection to their bodies rather than the disconnection that comes from attempting to meet standards of bodily ideals. This article focuses on the themes of pedagogy and power that emerged from the study. body image | dance education | dance pedagogy | body perceptions Keywords: Article: Recently, a number of educational theorists have problematised1 the term 'empowerment'. They have suggested that although teachers sometimes claim to help students learn, in actuality they may silence them or train them to act docilely (Ellsworth, 1992; Green, 1999; Lather, 1991; McWilliam, 1994). For example, in her often cited scholarly piece, 'Why doesn't this feel empowering? Working through the repressive myths of critical pedagogy', Elizabeth Ellsworth

The extent to which creativity and perfection can be considered compatible aims for dancers was investigated. Also investigated were how creativity and perfectionism are (1) nurtured versus inhibited, and (2) related to basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence, relatedness). Seventy-seven ballet students (12-19 years old) in Stockholm, Sweden completed standardized questionnaires, and eight were recruited for interviews. Additionally, five teachers were interviewed. It was found that flexible perfectionistic strivings (PS) were seen to support creativity, whereas rigid PS and perfectionistic concerns (PC) were seen as inhibiting. Creative work was proposed to reduce PC. Creativity appeared to be nurtured when basic needs were met via inspiration and imagery; this was experienced more in contemporary dance. Perfectionism appeared to be nurtured when basic needs were thwarted or unsupported, and when teachers were perfectionistic. This was experienced more in ballet. In conclusion, dance teachers who support basic needs likely support dancers' creativity and aid in perfectionism management.

This article explores the integration of creative dance in students' meaning-making processes in the literature classroom. Analytical focus lies on fifth-grade students' interpretations of a poem and how interpretations are created and expressed in creative dance. The material, generated in the pilot study of an educational design research project, was analyzed thematically. A total of three key themes emerged: (1) meaning-making through literary reading, (2) (re)making meaning in dance and literature, and (3) stretching boundaries. Findings suggest that students' literary reading was not represented through dance, but made and remade into new bodily interpretations in the intra-action between dancer and literature. As such, dance can adhere to literature's striving to broaden and create new horizons, and meet readers on an affective level. In conclusion, this article presents principles for integrating creative dance in the literature classroom.

Keeping abreast of political and policy changes can be difficult at present, due to the seemingly endless educational reforms that are being spearheaded by our new coalition government. This article offers an insight into the Tickell Review (2011) and the new Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS, DfE, 2012) framework, in an endeavour to show how these can positively impact on our dance work with children in the early years context.

The effects of an eight-week instructional program in creative dance/movement on the social competence of low-income preschool children were assessed in this study utilizing a scientifically rigorous design. Forty preschool children from a large Head Start program were randomly assigned to participate in either an experimental dance program or an attention control group. Teachers and parents, blind to the children's group membership, rated children's social competence both before and after the program, using English and Spanish versions of the Social Competence Behavior Evaluation: Preschool Edition. The results revealed significantly greater positive gains over time in the children's social competence and both internalizing and externalizing behavior problems for the experimental group compared with the control group. Small-group creative dance instruction for at-risk preschoolers appears to be an excellent mechanism for enhancing social competence and improving behavior. The implications for early childhood education and intervention are discussed.

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The purpose of the book is to help teachers develop an understanding of dance in the preschool setting, sense when dance can be a natural extension of classroom activity, and develop skill in planning and leading meaningful dance experiences. The first chapter of this book discusses what dance in preschool education is about and its importance for young children. In the second chapter, the content of movement is presented; these elements are the building blocks from which dance activities are created and provide reference points for developing ideas into class activities. The third chapter discusses general preparation for dance activities, and chapter 4 offers a step-by-step description of the process of developing an idea into a class session. Chapters 5 and 6 discuss the reality of teaching a dance class, and the final two chapters give suggestions for adapting material to particular groups--the very young, the handicapped, and parent-child groups. The appendixes include resource...

This thesis is an exploration of the contributions of contemporary theories in film and literacy with the purpose of understanding how those theories inform an arts-based researcher in education. Additionally, further insights are drawn from cognitive, social, and neurosciences with the purpose of broadening the scope of understanding that stretches across multiple disciplines wherein film and literacy education is found. By engaging in a wide exploration across multiple fields of knowledge, this thesis shows the extent to which the general belief of the incommensurability between the arts, philosophy, cognitive, social and neurosciences has impacted negatively on education. It is believed, however, that knowledge gained through the study of contemporary theories in film and literacy, which is founded upon the philosophical, psychological, and sociological, may achieve greater clarity and insight when framed within the scope of advanced studies in neurosciences. With the interweavin...

This study provides the first in-depth investigation of how perfectionism is experienced in highlevel dance. Seventy-seven students (M age = 15.52, SD = 2.30) completed a perfectionism questionnaire. Next, dancers with the highest and lowest levels of perfectionistic strivings (PS) and perfectionistic concerns (PC) were recruited for interview (N = 8), as representatives of the four subtypes of perfectionism in the 2 × 2 model. Distinct profiles emerged for the four quadrants of the 2 × 2 model in relation to four key themes: self-regulation, achievement goals, views on mistakes, and role of others. Dancers with high PS displayed the highest levels of selfregulation while dancers with low PC appeared most task-oriented. Dancers with high PC reported holding less favorable views on mistakes and placed greater emphasis on the opinions of others. Importantly, PS appeared to be both helpful and hurtful. Findings are discussed in relation to theory intermixed with practical recommendations.

Movement and Dance in the Inclusive Classroom by Stacey N. Skoningan is an article published in Teaching Exceptional Children Plus Volume 4, issue 6, July 2008. The article outlines the many benefits to the use of creative dance and movement as a teaching tool. The main points in the article focus on the effect of dance on academic learning; the effect of dance on behavior and the effect of dance on assessment and teaching the qualities of movement.

Move, Act, Play, Sing (MAPS) explored early childhood teaching and learning in the performing arts through community artist interventions and relational practices and pedagogies. The research developed three early childhood centre case studies where teachers, children, and parents worked together with community artists, the research team, and other colleagues to explore emergent pathways of performing arts teaching and learning. In MAPS, community artists in music, dance, and drama worked alongside teachers and children in semi-planned, open, and improvisatory pedagogical settings set up to explore the potentialities of performing arts learning and teacher responses in the centre environments and communities. The ethnographic inquiry focused on how the early childhood teachers engaged in meaningful performing arts experiences through the research process and looked at ways in which centres could engage in sustainable, ongoing performing arts teaching and learning.

This essay examines evolving diversity and inclusion practices in U.S. college and university dance programs. I argue that the lenses through which we view dance, the modes of instruction, and the goals of dance education must adapt to suit the dance forms that institutions embrace, rather than squeezing them into out-dated and biased structures. Further consideration is given to the complexity of preparing faculty members and students to be educators, performers, choreographers, and critical thinkers who are able to create an inclusive future for dance in the academy. Drawing from critical pedagogy, queer theory and dance studies, I examine the learning environment as a culture in itself, where we can question the history and development of its aesthetics, norms, modes of transmission, and visions for a just and dynamic future.

Within the Western fine arts tradition of concert and theatrical dance, new dances may be created in any number of ways. No matter how dance making begins, however, unless the work is to be improvised afresh each time it is performed, a process of developing, revising, and "setting" the work needs to take place. To move confidently and successfully from thinking up an idea for a dance to generating movement, to putting the finishing touches on the work, a choreographer must make hundreds, perhaps thousands, of creative decisions, each of which may be seen as a judgment of artistic taste. Lavender proposes creative process mentoring as a powerful way to facilitate the artistic work of choreographers. Following the presentation of a descriptive model of the basic "operational moments" of dance making in which challenges arise and must be met as any dance is made, he describes how a creative process mentor may assist a choreographer in recognizing and managing these challenges. He closes with thoughts on how rehearsal criticism, as distinct from dance criticism, may enhance

Introduction. The richness of the terminology of academic dance lies both in the great quantity and variety of its nomenclature and in the accuracy of its terms. We refer to words that describe the execution of the movement itself, the exact anatomical and spatial location, the type and quality of the displacement, the dynamics, the speed, the relationship with the music in the tempo and in the rhythmic content, as well as the interpretative desired effects. This exhaustive description of the movement will facilitate its teaching, its understanding, and therefore, its interpretation. Objective. We try to demonstrate that the nomenclature of academic dance has suffered impoverishment throughout the ages, and especially in the twentieth century, becoming a kind of coding vocabulary devoid of meaning. Method. Several terms of the ballet vocabulary will be analyzed contrasting different definitions given by manuals and specialized dictionaries: Le Moal (1999), Challet Hass (1987), Guillot-Prudhomeau (1974), Bourgat (1948), Lifar (1971), Vaganova (1961) and Cecchetti (2003), with the purpose of verifying that from the original word variants have been developed that, often, clearly move away from the original meaning of the term. Results. It is verified that from the original word have appeared variants and meanings often removed from the original form and meaning of the term. Conclusions. The contribution of a maximum of data about the quality and quality of the movement is essential to optimize not only the technical execution, but also the artistic interpretation of the dancer. For this reason, the terminology of classical dance must be preserved with the most etymological fidelity, since the meaning and reason of its origin are still valid today. This vocabulary is, therefore, a historical treasure that can only sublimate even more the art of classical dance, its pedagogy and its correct transmission to future generations.
Keywords: academic dance, terminology, classical dance, vocabulary, ballet, interpretation

During the years 2003-2006 I conducted a PhD research in three dance programs in three public high schools in the center of Israel. One of them was located in a low income peripheral city close to Tel Aviv by the name of Bat Yam. One of the main goals of my research was to understand and write about the experience of young adolescent girls who choose dance as a primary subject in their high school years. I wanted to find out why did they choose dance? What does dance mean in their lives? What is the social dimension of their embodied experience? In Israel today, there are more than 80 dance programs in the formal education system mainly in middle schools and high schools all over the country, in which more than 1500 students, most of them girls, are active. In these schools, the dance curriculum for matriculation exams is considered to be the most demanding and difficult among all arts, offering between 13-20 weekly hours of mandatory study and practice, on top of the general study program. Lecture for The Vaganova Ballet Academy, Saint Petersburg October, 2013 2 Most of the programs were initiated during the 80's and 90's and, many of them are located in what I call -"regular schools" -to differentiate from high schools for the arts, in which the orientation is semi professional. Such a module of a curricular dance program towards matriculation in a formal

Dance research has various approaches such as historical, political, socio-cultural, ethnic, epistemological and so on. These approaches need to be theorized for which theoretical foundations need to be addressed and adhered to, in order to give way for improvisation and innovation in Dance research.

With the French colonisation of Algeria in 1830, women’s dance in the Ouled Naïl region came to be confused with what in the West is called ‘belly dancing’. Postcolonial nationalism continues to build on the fetishisation of the art form and condemns it as a perpetuation of the master–slave narrative. During the colonial period, the dance came to involve economically disenfranchised young women from Ouled Naïl in merry-making performances in regions outside their own, and for a fee. However, this article explains how this dance is equally grounded in a pastoral-nomadic order, as it parallels the Ouled Naïl seasonal migration to the b’ni m’zab oasis in the south during autumn and back to their homelands during the spring. The dance is known as fezāai, connoting the shivering pigeon freely flying back and forth. In order for La mission civilisatrice to succeed, that pastoral-nomadic order had to be systematically destroyed. This article suggests that the example of Naïliyat dance offers postcolonial policy-makers insights into how to decolonise development and provide a space for working outside the capitalist economy. 

Keywords: Algeria, dance, Naïliyat dance, postcolonial development, body thinking, fetishisation.

Making and understanding fusion dance involves more than learning dance vocabulary or using choreographic devices because of the need to understand the culturally different dances that are being fused. This presentation will include a practical session in which fusion dances are made, leading to discussion about teaching that integrates theory with practice in the Understanding Dance in Context curriculum strand.

Since the Nine-year Curriculum's launch in 2000, there have been an increasing number of studies on the implementation of creative dance or its related elements in the context of school education in Taiwan. Most of the researchers in creative dance were full-time teachers who, with or without a professional dance background, made efforts to solve practical problems in their work by conducting action research in their classes. This panel discusses this trend of "teachers as researchers" by investigating how teacher-researchers have brought related elements of creative dance into Taiwanese schools. First, Dr. Wu reviewed 30 Master's theses that employed action research as the primary research method to investigate the implementation of creative dance in schools in Taiwan under the construct of the Nine-year Curriculum. She analyzed their rationales and purposes; the spiraling cycles of action research, which are planning, acting, observing, and reflecting; and research findings.

Dance sport is the competitive aspect of social dancing, and encompasses 5 genres of Latin dance: Cha Cha, Samba, Rumba, Paso Doble, and Jive. Education of technique focuses predominantly on foot positions and directions, and there is a lack of information regarding technical aspects of the dance, such as timing, position in space, and rhythm. This knowledge gap limits the potential for optimal skill development and progression. This study examined the centre of balance trajectory in the basic walks and cucaracha steps of Rumba dance using foot scan, gaining preliminary insight on weight placement and movement patterns in one professional and three novice ballroom dancers. The professional dancer performed the steps on the Foots can, while novices were given two 30 minute sessions to learn the steps. Results showed that novice dancers made various compensations in balance trajectory and weight distribution on their feet, in response to teaching cues for the Walks and Cucarachas. The professional dancer was in greater accordance of the described foot trajectory as it was traditionally taught, though still had more deviations in balance, and used more foot volume than the literal technique described. The findings of this study provide an improved understanding of the biomechanics in Latin dancing, and is a starting point for developing improved teaching techniques for performance enhancement and injury prevention for Ballroom dance.

Dance technique training is both social (shaped by the values of the dance aesthetic and those imparting or judging the dance aesthetic) and individual (shaped by the dancer's lived body experiences). It is important that a dancer does not silence her individual voice while in pursuit of her chosen dance aesthetic. In order to achieve this, dancers must become active contributors, rather than docile observers, in the aesthetic discipline and they need the support and guidance from their teachers if they are going to approach their dance education in this manner.

Resumo: Este artigo apresenta o conceito de gênero em educação, mostrando sua incorporação como uma categoria útil de análise no campo da dança, no qual as discussões sobre gênero aparecem muito raramente, especialmente quando se analisa a produção brasileira. Utilizando estudiosos(as) do campo dos estudos pós-estruturalistas de gênero, reflito sobre a necessidade de incorporação de tal conceito às investigações sobre as questões sociais que envolvem a dança.

Abstract: This article presents the concept of gender in education, showing its incorporation as a useful category of analysis in the field of dance education, in wich discusses of gender are rarely detected, especially when I analyse scientific research in Brazil. Using scholars in the field of post-structuralist gender studies as references, I have reflected on the need to incorporate this concept into the investigation about the social question in dance.

Abstract
My dissertation, a self-reflective autoethnography, examines, analyzes, and interprets children’s dances created by seventeen nine- 11 year olds attending a Midwestern, urban elementary school. The significance of this longitudinal study is in the offering of a fresh perspective on children’s dance-making as a mode of embodied understanding and as a process for personal transformation in life. As a reflective practitioner, I observe and write data reflexively using dance narratives. I describe instances where child dance-makers construct personally relevant meanings that embody personal transformations not dependent solely on outside events or codified dance portraitures.
Children negotiate inner experience with multifaceted sensory-play, feelings, ideas, themes, images, and structures through personally relevant dances that are created and interpreted within particular learning communities. This transformative act is at the center of why and how each dance made is an embodied act of knowledge-making and a result of preparation that is cultivated and defended privately by each person. It calls for pedagogical change in elementary school dance education practice to insure that spaces for this multimodal educational endeavor are embedded into educational policy, curriculum, and instructional practice.

Disciplinary literacies in dance and drama are underrepresented in classrooms and in scholarship, especially at the elementary level. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine how preservice teachers constructed meaning of the disciplinary literacies in dance and drama. The theoretical framework guiding this study was drawn from social constructivism. Data was examined from three tenets: (a) learning from others; (b) learning through dialogue; and (c) learning by doing. Data sources included observation notes, artifacts, and a focus group interview. A combination of conventional and directed content analysis tools coupled with writing as an analytical tool were applied to examine the data. Five findings emerged: the preservice teachers (a) utilized instructional practices to teach comprehension with the complex texts of dance or drama, (b) supported students who had academic knowledge gaps in dance or drama, (c) taught the academic vocabulary unique to dance or drama...

Environmental, organizational and attitudinal obstacles continue to prevent people with vision loss from meaningfully engaging in dance education and performance. This article addresses the societal disabilities that handicap access to dance education for the blind. Although much of traditional dance instruction relies upon visual cuing and modeling, evidence suggests that dance can be successfully taught to blind students by integrating verbal and tactile modes of instruction. There is a need for professional development to train teachers in inclusion dance methodologies that specifically address the learning needs of students with vision loss. There is a further need for a significant paradigm shift towards the acceptance of blind people as dance students and performers with full capacity to experience, appreciate and expand the current boundaries of the art form. We surveyed fifteen parents of dance students with vision loss to assess their perceptions of the importance of dance education and the challenges of accessibility. Thematic content analyses indicated that
parents perceived benefits in health, socialization, and dance literacy. Parents also perceived a lack of accessibility to dance for students with vision loss. This article provides evidence of successful dance inclusion for the blind. We recommend integration of dance pedagogy specific to the needs of people with visual impairment in the training of our teachers and the teaching of our students. Spotlighted techniques include: somatic approaches, tactile modeling, physical guidance, oral description, and one-t-one partner teaching.

This Study is an action research, investigating didactic approach by three different dance teachers at the Resource Centre at the Community School of Arts in Stockholm. The Resource Centre offer activities after school, for children and young people with disabilities or students who are in need of smaller groups. The questions asked are: What underlying norms and ideals are at work, what similarities and differences in approach is seen amongst the teachers at the same workplace? How do educators achieve communication and adapt this to the students' conditions? What kind of educational interventions are most prominent, and what sort of development is stressed? The study points out that there are similar ideas between the teachers but it is conducted in different ways. The prime educational interventions is to achieve communication. The teachers are using among other technics intonement, mirroring, modification of students movement, collaboration and play. Another prominent goal is to develop movement diversity. The tools for accomplish this are both visual, verbal, audio active, tactile and emotional. The teachers are striving for clarity in instruction, in the room and other wise.
This study points out the importance that all children and youth should have the opportunity to dance. And to fulfill this task there should be changes in teachers education and further education for teachers in the Community School of Arts. This study also proposes that motor abilities are better practiced in a dance lesson than in pure tutoring environment, due to the aspect of vitality and intent in dance practice. Therefor dance and movement should be a required element in the curriculum for Special Schools. Through movement and dance the goals of the curriculum could be easier attained. Hence a training should be available for student assistants in Special schools.

The Dart Procedures, developed by anatomist and anthropologist Raymond Dart and Alexander Technique teachers Joan and Alex Murray, are a developmental movement sequence born from scientific, somatic, therapeutic, and dance histories. Located primarily in Alexander Technique and dance practices, the Dart Procedures “devolve” the mover in ways that echo the evolution of the human species (phylogenetic) as well as the developing human (ontogenetic). The distillation of overall bodily attitudes and patterning found in the Dart Procedures has been more formally articulated in a movement analysis tool called Framework for Integration that considers spinal patterning in varied models. Patterning and preferences of the head and spine in the sagittal plane are called primary, toward overall spinal flexion, or secondary, toward overall spinal extension/hyperextension. Applied Dart/framework concepts deepen bodily awareness and call attention to habits and interferences in coordination across all manner of performance disciplines. This chapter will cover a brief history of the Dart Procedures, identify bodily patterns and habits, and promote embodied applications the performer can explore for more conscious ease in movement.

e body is the canvas for creativity. We paint with our hands, dance with our feet, sing with our breath, and sculpt with our palms. Our very beings are creative--we are made with the glorious impossible-ears that hear, esh that remembers, pulse that regulates, and hair that protects. As the visceral imagination is opened up, the intuition is given muscles, and we can teach on our feet, and be informed by what has great capacity to guide us. Intuition resides in the sinews of the esh where tissue can be transformed to wonder. Creation and creatures echo the ultimate creativity, and the gift of the senses brings beauty that is both bearable and unbearable. Beauty has the capacity to be dissonant and consonant, and creativity is found in our bones and cells, which bear witness to this reality.

Il  lavoro di tesi dal titolo Danza Mimesis Educazione. Riflessioni per una danza che nutra l’umano nell’uomo cerca di trovare una risposta all’ ipotesi secondo cui, se è vero che l’influenza della società è forte e visibile nella danza, può essere altrettanto verificabile che sia la stessa arte primaria dell’uomo (così come la definisce uno dei più grandi danzatori e teorici di sempre, Rudolf Laban) a indurre un cambiamento nella società in cui si sviluppa e vive. Può la danza essere considerata un dispositivo di cambiamento sociale? In altre parole, può avere una valenza educativa e pedagogica? Per poter indagare sull’argomento, si è ritenuto opportuno analizzare tre concetti principiali che potessero permettere alla ricerca di trovare un fondamento teorico ad una possibile risposta affermativa alle suddette questioni: Danza, Mimesis, Educazione. Partendo da una visione pedagogica che assegna all’educazione contemporanea il compito di far sì che l’individuo possa imparare a convivere con la complessità della società fluida per poter far di se stesso un “artista”, nel senso pirandelliano del termine, ossia per poter realizzare a pieno la propria esistenza, si è cavalcata l’ onda dell’utopia, l’unica che può permettere all’educazione di tornare ad essere il sano e gustoso nutrimento per l’umanità dell’essere umano, così come l’etimologia del termine “educare” suggerisce. L’educazione presa in considerazione nel presente lavoro, perciò, mira ad una presa di responsabilità da parte di chi se ne occupa, per poter svelare all’umanità tutta, un uomo alla volta, bambino per bambino,  quella condizione di “prigionia” che ci lascia incatenati all’interno della caverna platonica, incapaci di vedere l’essere proprio di ognuno e di ogni cosa. Per tornare a vedere ciò che ci rende simili, è necessario ri-scoprire il valore del corpo all’interno della relazione educativa, rapporto in cui non possono non avere un ruolo di primo piano le emozioni e soprattutto l’amore, inteso come agapé (passione per il benessere dell’altro). La danza si inserisce, allora, in questo contesto ma per giungere ad una risposta che sia il più possibile esaustiva, si è evidenziata la necessità di indagare sul come essa possa rappresentare una speranza di rivoluzione in termini di ri-scoperta dell’umano nell’uomo, a partire da una riflessione sul cosa si intenda per “danza”. Danza, nel presente lavoro e in accordo con uno dei più grandi teorici della storia della danza R. Garaudy, è un punto di vista, un modo di vivere che assume il movimento e la relazione come fondamento dell’umanità dell’essere umano. Danza è, perciò, l’attività che smuove l’e-motività degli uomini e delle donne e che li porta a comunicare in maniera del tutto sincera e priva di veli con l’altro da sé. Occorre sottolineare, perciò, che non è stato compito né intenzione del presente lavoro indicare se vi sia o meno uno stile di danza più alto e “veritiero” di altri. Ciò che è apparso utile è stato, piuttosto, rilevare quale valore possa assumere la danza in un contesto estremamente variegato e complesso come quello in cui viviamo. È sembrato, altresì, interessante analizzarne il carattere di strumento valido per risollevare l’educazione dalla profonda crisi che sta vivendo. Essa, infatti, quando non si presenta come una “danza di passi”, come un’attività che mira esclusivamente all’esteriorità, può essere uno strumento pedagogico molto valido, poiché non solo capace di evidenziare il ruolo primario del corpo, superando il macchinoso dualismo che lo vede scisso dall’anima, ma anche perché permette di valorizzare la creatività del bambino, pone al centro dell’apprendimento l’esperienza propria di ognuno, ristabilisce il ruolo primario del piacere nel processo di assimilazione e comprensione piuttosto che dell’utile, imponendo di concentrarsi sul processo invece che sul prodotto finale. In altre parole, la danza può permettere all’educazione di cambiare la propria direzione dalla logica del consumo alla logica della cura. Ciò le è possibile poiché essa, più di qualsiasi altra arte, incarna la capacità mimesica dell’uomo, che gli permette di rendersi simile all’altro da sé. La danza permette all’educazione di riflettere su se stessa, di modo che possa vedere che occorre superare quell’errata traduzione e concezione di mimesis come imitazione per poter tornare ad alimentare l’uomo ed, in particolare, il bambino, con un cibo nutriente per la propria umanità. La danza, come incarnazione della capacità mimesica, è proprio ciò che permettere di rendere visibile ciò che è invisibile, ciò che concerne l’unitarietà di ognuno e ciò che ci permette di renderci “artisti”. Incarnando l’altro da sé, attraverso una danza orientata dalla mimesis, l’uomo riesce ad in-tenderlo e ad as-similarlo così come non riuscirebbe utilizzando solamente le proprie capacità razionali. La pedagogia, dunque, non può più far finta di non vedere questo grande e naturale strumento a sua disposizione se vuole che l’agire educativo possa portare un reale cambiamento nella vita sociale e personale degli uomini

Mindful Movement: The Evolution of the Somatic Arts and Conscious Action is a masterful book that traces the complex spider web of somatic influences on American and European contemporary dance, with a focus on the integration of somatic awareness in higher education. Eddy and her collaborators take the reader on a historical journey, systematically connecting the various generations of somatic educators with trends in dance education in the West and the infusion of non-western disciplines in this larger amalgamation.

In India, the term 'professional dancer' is most often applied to someone who is a performer. This unidimensional way of understanding the dance profession has many implications on how dance is taught and on the hierarchies created between the performing of dance and the teaching of dance. Teaching is seen as subsidiary to performance and hence the primary aim of most teaching is to create performers. As a dance educator who rejects this narrow idea of what it means to engage with dance, I have sought spaces in which to teach dance (and teach through dance), where the focus is not on producing or training professional dancers, but allowing opportunities for a creative and expressive engagement with the body (Appendix B). This approach to dance education is not very common in India: indeed dance education as a field is itself largely underdeveloped. Consequently there does not exist a body of knowledge systematically developed over time that can serve as a resource to practitioners in the field. It is up to individual dance educators to develop and articulate their work by critically evaluating their practice in the context of international dance education research and theory, in an effort to build a body of knowledge that is robust and yet context specific.

A local trend in commercial dance studio education is the implementation of real-time digital video surveillance. This case study explores how digital video cameras in the dance studio environment affect asymmetrical power relationships already present in the commercial studio setting, as well as how surveillance impacts feminist pedagogical strategies. The panoptic mechanism in the commercial studio discussed in this case study consists of studio video cameras with live feed to monitors in the waiting area, the front desk area, as well as the director's office. This research seeks to initiate a discussion regarding how such mediation may intensify the already panoptic atmosphere of a dance studio. Survey results indicate some emphasis placed by the parents on their positionality as client-consumers, as well as their desire to be involved in their children's dance education, which results in their support of the surveillance. Qualitative research reveals how the teachers' feminist pedagogical strategies are affected by video surveillance. This research adds a new dimension to the discussion around the panopticism of dance studios by focusing on an audience mediated though digital video cameras.

The differently-abled dancing body has become more of a presence in dance culture over the past thirty years; however, professional training for these bodies is still minimal in scope (Charnley 2011; McGrath 2012; Benjamin 2002).  Dance-based programs for individuals who are differently-abled often exist with primarily recreational and/or therapeutic goals. This paper will describe the development of a unique inclusive dance program over a four year period comprised of young dancers with disabilities (ages 6-11) with a professional training intent. The paper will address practice methods which have shown to be effective in the development and sustainability of our program. We offer these practical “field research” ideas as relevant suggestions for other dance educators interested in similar program implementation. Curricular development and classroom practices are addressed foremost, followed by several other key program elements, concluding with a reflexive consideration of limitations and on-going challenges to consider in launching inclusive dance programs.

The Book titled “Hasta Mudra Therapy – An effective aspect of Dance Therapy” deals with various disciplines like Dance, Therapy, Dance Therapy, Hasta Mudra Therapy, Hasta Mudras used in Dance, Yoga, Hindu and Buddhist religious practices; Physiology of palm, Pharmacokinetics and Acupressure. This Book is the result of the PhD thesis titled “A study of Dance Therapy with specific reference to Hasta Mudra Therapy”, submitted to University of Hyderabad, Telangana, India, which fetched me a PhD degree. The research involved a comprehensive study and analysis of the above mentioned disciplines to substantiate the work and prove it scientifically. Dance is an ocean which has boundless and inexhaustible benefits hidden in it. Dance involves all the fine arts, it encompasses mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, management; it is closely associated to mythology; imbibes culture and tradition; involves language with technical grammar; improves communication skills & memory; cultivates discipline; it is a fitness health, entertainment & refreshment; imparts knowledge and above all it is divine and next to God. Dance can also be a mode of therapy, a skill which keeps you fit and good health. Practicing dance nurtures the body just like any other physical training or meditation. Although dance has been a method of expression for centuries, it wasn’t until recently that it was characterized as a form of therapy. Dance Therapy research has been undertaken to heal both physical and mental illness, however, Dance as a whole or Dance Movement analysis is only considered as the research topic. Dance Therapy research in specific to Hasta Mudras is not done till 2008, which prompted me to choose it as my PhD research topic, as most of the Indian classical Dance forms use the Hasta Mudras to communicate Dance. From the study, it is obvious that, Dance therapy and in specific Hasta Mudra Therapy, can be a potential alternative therapy which has been proved and established.

Dancers tend to be a visual and kinaesthetic group, hence this chapter adopts those characteristics too, making a graphic invitation to prompt thinking and curiosity about what constitutes dance. This is to equip a teacher with dance-orientated ideas, to structure their dance classes in a school setting. By way of overview and to lead the reader through this complex topic, the chapter first explores some conceptual and intellectual demands of dance as an area of human activity, progressing to more physical and performative requirements for teaching dance in practice.

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